Sniffle

One of the fruits of spending less time online is that I have more time to do other stuff. This seems silly now that I have typed it out [note to my brother: don't leave me another comment with "duh" in it. It hurts my feelings and I am a fragile flower this week.] but it has been a pleasant surprise.

Since last Saturday I have finished both of the socks pictured in their embryonic state (or maybe the striped one was a fetal sock) in this June post. I decided to cast on something new and fun: Pomatomus, in the pretty green Socks That Rock yarn I bought for Stella's sweater and booties. I had a whole skein of it and I was cruising along. The pattern was easy for me to pick up but very fun to see developing all the same. This sock was a happy thing amid the festival of crud. [<-git yer foreshadowing right here, folks] Tonight I started the heel flap, thinking, "I bet I can get the heel turned before I go to bed and then I'll be halfway."

"...Hm," I thought to myself. "This sock-in-progress feels very heavy. And this ball of yarn does not feel very heavy." My kitchen scale confirmed my fears: I don't have enough yarn to finish the pair. This baffled me momentarily and then I realized: mediumweight yarn won't give me the same yardage I've come to expect from a skein of sock yarn. This would be another "duh" moment except see above re: temporary fragile-flower-ness.

This makes me gnash my teeth a little bit. Can I get some knitterly input? I could (a) order another skein, but they make a big deal about how skeins ordered separately might not match each other and that would make me even grumpier. I could (b) frog the booties and cannibalize the yarn. Would I have to wash it so it could relax? (In case it is unclear, the answer I am looking for is "No, Jamie, you can just pull it right off those booties. No need to wash and rewind it; just go right ahead. You are knitting on the same size needles, so it won't be a problem at all." Unless that answer will cause me greater teeth-gnashing down the line, in which case I might possibly be reconciled to a different answer. Possibly. Did I mention the fragile?)

I also noticed that the leg of this sock has a bunch of lengthwise stretch. I could (c) continue to rib across the sole and take advantage of that lengthwise stretch, knitting a sock that looks like it would only fit a Chinese foot-binding victim but which would actually stretch to fit my very own unbound feet. Would a ribbed sole be uncomfortable? Or would a stockinette sole stretch lengthwise?

Input much appreciated to save me from option (d): flinging myself out the window and running away in search of ice cream.